IEC: On-Line Education: WPF: The Coming of True Convergence: Why Service Providers Can Finally Turn Out the Lights on the Old Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

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The Coming of True Convergence: Why Service Providers Can Finally Turn Out the Lights on the Old Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

Table of Contents:

Definition and Overview

1. Introduction

2. True Convergence

3. What It Takes to Be Carrier-Grade

4. The Protocol War

5. Converged Tools and Service Creation

6. Summary

The era of convergence brings with it many promises as well as challenges. Enhanced service creation, easy self-provisioning, and more flexible billing and usage options are just a few examples of the treasures to be found in the Holy Grail. But the road to convergence is long and filled with pitfalls. Next-generation communications platform vendors are challenged to meet or exceed the PSTN in reliability, scalability, and performance; provide any-to-any protocol and end point interoperability; and empower service creation through robust service creation engines and open APIs. Ultimately, true convergence will come when next-generation vendors solve the problems of meeting or exceeding PSTN reliability and scalability, any-to-any protocol and end point interoperability, and open, standards-based service creation.

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